Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hun slo kneet sitt da hun løp ned trappene. - She hit her knee when she ran down the stairs.

kneet sitt literally means “the knee hers/own”, i.e. her own knee.
- kne = knee (neuter noun)
- kneet = the knee (definite form)
- sitt = her own / his own (reflexive possessive for neuter singular)

Using sin / sitt / sine shows that the thing belongs to the grammatical subject (hun in this sentence).

You could say:

Hun slo kneet. – “She hit (her) knee.” (body parts are often understood as belonging to the subject and the possessive can be omitted)
Hun slo sitt kne. – also correct, but less common in everyday speech.
Hun slo kneet sitt. – very natural and common.
Hun slo hennes kne. – sounds wrong here, because hennes normally refers to another woman, not the subject herself.

So kneet sitt is the normal way to say her own knee in this context.

Why do we use sitt instead of hennes for “her”? What’s the difference?

Norwegian distinguishes between:

reflexive possessives: sin / sitt / sine
non‑reflexive possessives: hans / hennes

sin / sitt / sine refer back to the subject of the clause:

Hun slo kneet sitt. – She hit her (own) knee.
Han tok på seg jakken sin. – He put on his (own) jacket.

hans / hennes refer to someone else, not the subject:

Hun slo kneet hennes. – She hit her knee (another woman’s).
Han tok på seg jakken hennes. – He put on her jacket (not his).

So in your sentence, sitt tells us the knee belongs to hun, the subject of the clause. Using hennes would normally imply it was another woman’s knee.

Why is it written kneet with two e’s? How is the definite form of kne made?

kne (knee) is a neuter noun in Norwegian.

Indefinite singular: et kne – a knee
Definite singular: kneet – the knee

To form the definite of neuter nouns ending in a vowel, you normally add -et:

hode → hodet (head → the head)
øye → øyet (eye → the eye)
kne → kneet (knee → the knee)

So the double e is just kne + et → kneet. The pronunciation is roughly like “kneh-eh” (one vowel, but slightly lengthened).

Does slo mean “hit,” “hurt,” or “banged”? What exactly does å slå mean here?

The verb å slå has several related meanings: to hit, to strike, to beat, and in some contexts to bang or to knock.

In this sentence:

Hun slo kneet sitt – literally: “She hit her knee.”

The most natural English translations here are:

“She banged her knee …”
“She hit her knee …”
“She hurt her knee …” (more interpretive, but often how you’d say it in English)

So slo (past tense of å slå) conveys the physical impact that caused pain.

Why is it da and not når for “when she ran down the stairs”?

Norwegian makes a distinction between da and når when talking about the past:

da is used for a single, specific event or period in the past.
når is used for repeated / habitual actions and also for present/future “when”.

Examples:

Da jeg var liten, bodde jeg i Oslo. – When I was little (one specific period).
Når jeg var liten, pleide jeg å leke ute. – When I was little, I used to play outside (repeated/habitual).
Når jeg kommer hjem, skal jeg ringe deg. – When I get home (future).

In your sentence, hun løp ned trappene is a single past event, so da is the correct choice:

Hun slo kneet sitt da hun løp ned trappene.
→ She banged her knee when she ran down the stairs (on that particular occasion).

Could we say Hun slo sitt kne instead of Hun slo kneet sitt? What’s the difference in word order?

Yes, both are grammatically possible, but they sound a bit different:

Hun slo sitt kne.
- Possessive before the noun.
- The noun is indefinite (kne).
- This can sound a bit more formal or “written” and slightly less natural in everyday speech here.
Hun slo kneet sitt.
- Possessive after the noun.
- The noun is definite (kneet).
- This is the most natural, neutral-sounding version in everyday Norwegian.

In general:

Preposed possessive (before the noun): mitt kne, hennes bil
- Often a bit more emphatic or stylistic.
Postposed possessive (after a definite noun): kneet mitt, bilen hennes
- Very common in spoken language; often feels more neutral.

So Hun slo kneet sitt is the best, most idiomatic choice here.

Why can’t we just say Hun slo hennes kne for “She hit her knee”?

Hun slo hennes kne is technically grammatical, but it almost always means:

She hit another woman’s knee.

This is because:

hennes normally refers to a female person who is not the subject.
To refer to the subject’s own things, Norwegian prefers sin / sitt / sine.

So:

Hun slo kneet sitt. – She hit her own knee.
Hun slo kneet hennes. – She hit her knee (some other woman’s).

In everyday Norwegian, if you say hennes in a sentence where the subject is also female, listeners expect you to mean someone else, not the subject herself.

Why is it ned trappene and not just ned trapper or ned trappa?

Let’s break it down:

trapp = stair / staircase (feminine/masculine noun)
trappa / trappen = the stair / the staircase (definite singular)
trapper = stairs (indefinite plural)
trappene = the stairs (definite plural)

In this sentence:

ned trappene = “down the stairs”

This matches English quite closely: we normally say “down the stairs”, not just “down stairs” in this context.

Could you use other forms?

Hun løp ned trappa. – Very common in spoken Norwegian; also means “down the stairs” (singular definite is often used for the whole staircase).
Hun løp ned trapper. – Would sound odd here; it suggests “down stairs” in a more generic or repeated sense, not a specific staircase.

So ned trappene is a natural way to talk about going down a particular set of stairs, just like English “down the stairs”.

What’s the difference between ned and nedover? Could we say hun løp nedover trappene?

Both ned and nedover can describe movement downward:

ned – down (direction, relatively neutral and very common)
nedover – downwards / down along (often emphasizes movement along a slope, surface, stairs)

In your sentence, both are possible:

Hun løp ned trappene. – She ran down the stairs.
Hun løp nedover trappene. – She ran down the stairs (slightly more focus on the downward motion along the stairs).

The difference is subtle here; ned is slightly shorter and more neutral. nedover can feel a bit more descriptive or vivid, but both are correct.

Is løp the past tense of løpe? How does this verb conjugate?

Yes, løp is the simple past tense of å løpe (to run). It’s an irregular (“strong”) verb.

Basic forms:

å løpe – to run (infinitive)
løper – run / is running (present)
løp – ran (past)
har løpt – has run (perfect participle)

So:

Hun løper ned trappene. – She is running down the stairs.
Hun løp ned trappene. – She ran down the stairs.
Hun har løpt ned trappene. – She has run down the stairs.

Could we leave out the second hun and say Hun slo kneet sitt da løp ned trappene?

No, that would be ungrammatical in Norwegian.

In the clause da hun løp ned trappene (“when she ran down the stairs”), hun is the subject of the verb løp. Norwegian, unlike some languages, does not allow you to drop the subject pronoun in this kind of sentence.

You must say:

Hun slo kneet sitt da hun løp ned trappene. ✅

If you remove hun, the clause da løp ned trappene is missing a subject and feels ungrammatical.